


Kadena: Tumblr Prompts (eternalnicwrites)

by Fanficqueen5093



Category: The Bold Type
Genre: F/F, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 09:14:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15191576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanficqueen5093/pseuds/Fanficqueen5093
Summary: Feel free to send me more prompts at any point - unless its listed as closed on my Tumblr account. You can also comment to request a prompt.





	1. Kat makes Adena breakfast

**Author's Note:**

> Find me and request new prompts here: http://eternalnicwrites.tumblr.com/ask

> Adena sleeps in on the days when Kat leaves for work. Scarlett keeps her busy, but she’s always made it a priority to leave work (for the most part, as a social media directors job never really ends) at the office before coming home. That mentality only furthers when Adena becomes a more permanent fixture in her life. The social media director goes to work promptly at 730 and makes it in shortly before 8am each morning, almost never late (except for the days when Adena manages to pull her back into bed, of course). Nothing extreme like some of the other publishers in the city. Kat is thankful for the reasonable time shifts at Scarlett. Even if she is a morning person, something Adena is baffled by, there have been a few shared nights with Jane and Sutton where she’s had just a few too many drinks to make in before 8.

> When Kat leaves for work on the weekdays, Adena gets up only to begin prayer for the day before heading back to sleep and then waking later to eat a late breakfast before continuing on with her day. On the weekends when they have all the time in the world to lounge around, the couple don’t usually greet the day until at least 10. They spend all their time wrapped up in each other, snuggled close underneath the covers with sleepy eyes, trading soft kisses, nuzzles, and whispered secrets, sometimes having lazy morning sex or passionate fights for dominance. Kat has never had this before, never wanted this before, but it quickly becomes her favorite time of day. When the sunlight breaks across the sky, shielded somewhat by the ever-present smog of New York, Adena’s caramel skin welcomes the gentle shadows that play across the bare landscape. 
> 
> Kat often takes the time to say her own prayer when those feelings of awe and overwhelming love overtake her, when she can sit and stare at Adena in the growing sun. She’s never been religious, was raised with science and reasoning, but she thanks whatever force, whether karma, a God, fate, brought Adena El Amin into her life. Kat has never felt this full before - like she’s a second away from bursting when she looks at Adena. Especially when the artist is asleep. 
> 
> Kat’s protective of her friends, of Sutton and Jane. But the kind of protectiveness that Adena evokes in her isn’t like that. It isn’t the soft kind of love she has for Sutton and Jane. No, this is all consuming and ever present. Kat Edison would do anything to protect Adena El Amin and the struggle to not wrap her up and take her to bed, especially on days when its obvious that she misses home or when she’s unsure of herself and her place in this country, is a visceral fight. She often has to remind herself that Adena is capable, is strong (so fucking strong), and that she wouldn’t want Kat to shield her from the world or wrap her up and keep her in her kingdom where she rules and everything outside their now-shared apartment is meaningless.
> 
> So when that feeling of utter adoration and anxiety comes on, Kat tries not to let herself get too lost in it. Instead, she plans. She plans out things that might make Adena’s time a little easier. Ever since their declarations of love and Adena’s sharing of how frightened she is, Kat has been studying Iranian culture, pastimes, and the language. While Adena sleeps peacefully beside her, Kat lays awake in the dim morning light and plays with locks of the woman’s soft hair, pressing kisses to her bare skin while she considers what she can do that day to make Adena happy.
> 
> It comes in the form of breakfast today. Kat wakes up obscenely early, leaves a hurried note for Adena before gently rising from the bed, smiling at the immediate furrow in the artists brow and the tightening of a fist upon Kat’s pillow where her shoulder had been. Luckily for Kat, Adena stays asleep and she’s able to sneak from the apartment easily. 
> 
> She’s heading to a Persian market where they sell an assortment of imported goods and homemade food. She had googled it last night when the idea popped up to do something sweet for Adena today. She had researched proper Iranian breakfast dishes and what was traditional, wincing at some of the more unsavory imaginings that swayed far from American breakfast.
> 
> The market wasn’t close by, hence the early time of Kat waking up, but Adena was worth it and so Kat hailed a cab and settled in for the relatively quiet time spent scrolling through social media and pulling up recipes. She’d decided on noon-e barbari, an oval bread that was said to be deliciously chewy and doughy, noon-e sangak, a wheat flatbread baked upon hot rock, and noon-e tâftoon, a round white flatbread, with an assortment of jams, cheese, and other accoutrements that seemed crucial for Iranian breakfasts. She was also hoping to get back in time to make Adena a traditional omelet with fresh tomatoes and a kettle full of steaming hot tea - something that apparently was crucial to Iranians in order to start the day (she learned, in fact, that Iranians drank tea throughout the entire day but breakfast was a time for tea with grain sugar) which made sense since Adena had cupboards full of tea back home and usually wouldn’t go near coffee.
> 
> It was still far too early for the market to be sprawling with people, but Kat greeted whomever she passed by warmly, beyond happy and excited to carry out her plan for Adena. Everyone was friendly, a trait that didn’t surprise Kat in the least when she considered how polite and kind Adena and some of her Iranians friends had been in the past. The shopkeepers were even lovelier and helped her carry out her shopping with knowledge on what everything tasted like. In the end she had the three freshly baked breads, masterfully crafted by the artisan behind the counter, eggs, fresh tomatoes, butter, feta cheese, cucumber, walnuts, sour cherry and a quince jam, clotted cream, and a local honey from a well-known beekeeper in the area, along with a lovely assortment of seasonal flowers that she found on her way back to her apartment.
> 
> When she arrived back at their apartment, Kat was pleased to still see Adena in bed. Trashing the short note she’d left, Kat made her way to the kitchen to begin on the omelet. It was an easy dish and though Kat was not as masterful a chef as Adena, who cooked with passion and almost always Iranian food, she could get this done with little problem. While the eggs simmered in the skillet, she began putting together a display of all the different breads, the jams, cucumbers, walnuts, clotted cream and the honey. She placed the flowers in the middle for aesthetic value and was entirely too pleased with how everything looked. She put the tea on as she plated the eggs and made a saucer of granulated sugar to be placed next to the kettle on the kitchen table where she an Adena would eat. She snapped a photo for Sutton and Jane and gloated on how great her morning was about to be before sending it off. 
> 
> By the time breakfast was finished and everything that she’d bought was on the table in some way, Kat was ridiculously nervous about her display. She knew that it was the thought that counted and that Adena would be touched regardless but she really hoped that she’d gotten everything right and that the omelette might taste similar to what Adena would have back home. Sometimes they ate out for breakfast or brunch, sometimes Kat cooked up something simple like eggs on the weekends, but Adena often ate breakfast alone because Kat needed to be at work in the mornings. Kat knew that she sometimes stuck to traditional things like Persian bread and jams but that she hadn’t had anything this grand since she was home with her mother earlier this year.
> 
> Adena was still asleep, hair all over the place and a slight furrow to her brow as she snuggled deeper under the covers for warmth. Kat smiled at the fond sight and climbed back into the bed with her girlfriend. Coming into contact with Adena’s warm skin, the woman hummed quietly, and her hand opened, found Kat’s forearm where she squeezed. “Morning sleepyhead,” Kat greeted cheerfully, watching with amusement as Adena came back to the land of the living with a discontented groan and a rub of her eyes. Her girlfriend was adorable sometimes. “What time is it?” Adena asks, voice still scratchy with sleep. Glancing over at the clock, Kat raises an eyebrow at the time.
> 
> “It is eight-fifteen, love,” Kat replies before bending to press a kiss to Adena’s bare shoulder. Bleary brown eyes, soft with affection and sleep, meet her own and glance up at her curiously when she leans back against the headboard. “Shouldn’t you be at work?” Adena’s brows raise at the ecstatic grin suddenly fixed upon her girlfriend’s face before mirroring it with a small confused grin of her own. Whatever has Kat so happy has to be a good a thing and she’s always content when her girlfriend is happy.
> 
> “I have a surprise for you actually,” Kat remarks, preening like a peacock in her mysterious way. Adena’s eyebrows furrow and her head tilts from the pillow as she watches the way Kat’s face light with happiness and pride. “A surprise?” Adena asks, slowly confused as her brain begins to wake. “Yes!” Kat yells excitedly and playfully pushes her girlfriends covered hip before getting off the bed and hovering near Adena’s side. “So, get up and come and see what I did!” It’s the last thing said before Kat bounds back towards the kitchen and living area.
> 
> Adena is left behind, still coming gradually into the land of the living and sighing sleepily, hand rubbing across her face before a soft groan can be heard. She is really not a morning person but usually gets up for Salat al-fajr but there are days, like today, when she’s a bit lazier and doesn’t get up early enough to attend to that salah. However, her girlfriend has far more energy in the morning hours than in the midday or night hours despite Adena’s bafflement. Kat’s excitement rousing her from their shared bedroom, Adena shifts in bed until she’s thrown the covers off and sits up. Stretching her arms above her head in a stretch with a contented groan, she can hear Kat patter around in the kitchen and then there’s another call for Adena to hurry along.
> 
> Adena, having no idea what’s in store, runs a hand through her hair and makes her way the kitchen. “Kat,” she begins through a yawn, “can’t this wai-,” her words stall as she comes around the corner and views the kitchen. There is a familiar sight that brings back memories of childhood and of her mother, and there’s a slowly growing lump in her throat by the time she comes to stand beside Kat. Her girlfriend, obviously nervous by the way her voice shakes, begins to explain herself.
> 
> “I know that you miss home,” Kat begins, voice slowly growing stronger as her insecurities fade away, a slight stone of worry settling in as she watches Adena’s eyes fill with tears, “and I thought that I could do something that might remind you of home or I don’t know…” She’s suddenly unsure of herself and her plan. What is this just makes Adena miss her home country more? 
> 
> Adena is meanwhile filled to the brim with affection and love for this woman. Kat is the only person whose really made an effort such as this – to make her feel truly welcome in this country but also to help her not leave her own behind. Coco was a traveler, a free spirit, and hadn’t understood Adena’s fear or her homesickness. Coco could go home whenever she wanted to – and had done so when they broke up – and was always in the mindset that there was always somewhere else to go. They were different in that way and that’s possibly a big reason why they hadn’t lasted – when Adena’s insecurities grew and her fear of deportation mounted Coco just hadn’t understood. But Kat did, and Kat fought tooth and nail, was still fighting, for the chance of Adena’s permanent stay in the United States.
> 
> “Adena…” Kat begins, a subdued worry in her tone, but she’s cut off when the older woman turns and bolts into her arms. Adena’s arms find Kat’s neck and wraps around the taller woman, clinging to her and breathing her in. “Thank you,” its roughly whispered against the woman’s skin before Adena’s pressing several kisses to her collarbone and neck. “Thank you, Kat.” The artist breathes contently and rests into her lover’s arms. Kat grins and holds Adena tightly to her taller frame, resting her chin upon the woman’s head. It’s going to be a great day and it’s going to start with this epic Persian breakfast.


	2. Kat Goes Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kat Goes Down (ep 2x01)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is pretty much porn with minimal plot. Enjoy.

Oral sex with boys was fairly easy. Grab it, play around with it with your tongue, suck, bob, handwork… The mechanics were familiar to Kat and she knew she was quite good at it – none of her previous bedpartners had complained. So simple! But Adena’s vagina? While she seemed to love Kat’s fingers, Kat couldn’t imagine how to go down on Adena. It seemed simple – Kat had the same parts and she knew what she liked herself… But could it really be that simple? Would Adena love everything that Kat loved, or would she prefer a totally different pattern of movements? Slower? Harder? And what if Kat wasn’t a fan of the taste or of being so up-close-and-personal between Adena’s legs? She couldn’t imagine _that_.

 A part of her knew that liking Adena’s taste and her smell wouldn’t be a problem. They’d done things before, Kat had made Adena come plenty of times now, especially in Peru where they had spent every night exploring one another, and she knew certain intimate details of her girlfriend’s body, the way her hair was neatly styled between her legs, the way she felt when she clutched Kat’s fingers, the subtle scent of her arousal. But she’d never tasted Adena. Kat knew what she herself tasted like from years and years of curious masturbation, but every woman was different, so she assumed Adena tasted different to herself. Kat couldn’t say she minded the way she tasted herself, but it wasn’t super special or anything. Would Adena be different?

 “You okay?” Her girlfriends voice broke her from her thoughts and she shifted, the hand in the curls at the nape of her neck stalling as she relaxed her head back onto Adena’s legs, still facing away. “Fine,” she murmured back, still caught up in her own racing thoughts. Adena shifted beneath her head and then a pair of soft, warm lips met her temple to press several soft kisses there. “I can hear you thinking,” that deep, warm, amused voice whispered in her ear and Kat’s eyes drifted shut as a contented sigh made its way out.

 What could she say? There was a certain level of comfort with Adena. Kat felt as if she could say anything and it would be accepted and never judged, something she knew little of before she had met Adena. Adena allowed her to speak her mind and met her head on with ideas and acceptance that was never far off when she offered up pieces of herself that she wouldn’t dare tell anyone else – not even Sutton or Jane. So, telling Adena that she wanted to know what the woman tasted like shouldn’t be that difficult and Kat was frankly tired of overthinking this.

 The conversation earlier had been a good breather, a good clear of the air, but now Kat wanted to put all these questions to rest once and for all and just jump into it. Thinking back on all the decisions she’d made in the past months, all the hesitation she had in going forward with Adena, all the fear, Kat realized that they all paid off tenfold when she took that leap. Going to Peru had been the biggest leap, meeting Adena head on and accepting their fated relationship for what it was, and that time in country with Adena had been some of the best times of Kat’s life thus far. So maybe this leap would pay off too and Kat wouldn’t screw it up.

 “I’m thinking about what you might taste like,” Kat murmured, confident and sure because she knew what kind of reaction she’d receive for her admittance. Just as she suspected, those talented fingers tightened just slightly in the hair at the nape of her neck before they paused altogether once more. “Oh?” Adena’s voice was deeper and Kat’s eyes closed as a shiver of excitement trailed down her body. There was so many things she loved about her girlfriend (so many things) but one of the biggest was the way she spoke; her accent, when she spoke Farsi, the way her words would catch on certain syllables (especially when she said Kat’s name or Sutton’s oddly enough, anything with a pronounced ‘T’). And when she was aroused her voice dropped an octave or two; her tell-tale of her own intrigue and desire.

 “Hm,” Kat nodded against the woman’s legs and basked in the sudden quietness of the night. Adena didn’t want to push, Kat knew, so she wouldn’t acknowledge that they could just go to bed, and Kat could find that out herself first hand. Her girlfriend was like that – silently encouraging, never pushing too hard or making Kat feel uncomfortable in how long it took to work up the courage or to feel ready for a next step. Adena was content to wait – a truly relaxed woman who could put up with and compliment Kat’s eccentric anxieties. Kat could be high strung, a bit bitchy, and difficult to put up with, she knew, but Adena was the opposite; quiet, calm, inquisitive, observant, intense. They were two sides that complimented each other quite well in all their flaws and their perfections. Adena’s patient kindness made it easier for Kat, known for her stoic nature of dealing with her problems and feelings herself, to speak with her about these things that were uncomfortable.

 “Can we just go to bed and do what we normally do?” Turning to face her lover, Kat immediately fell into sweet, inquisitive brown eyes. They held her captive and had her heart beating tenfold with the adoring gaze Adena’s fixed on her. A smile of encouragement and acceptance was given before Adena had Kat moving up off her legs and standing before her.

 Standing, Kat watched Adena intently, quietly, as she laid the blanket she had covered up with back onto the sofa. When their eyes met again, Kat’s breath caught at the darkened look of desire there, the casual, sexy, little smirk hanging around her girlfriend’s lips. Stalk still in their shared living room, Kat watched as Adena turned and removed her shirt, hair flowing freely since she’d removed her hijab earlier. Adena’s back was flawless, soft muscle twisting beneath her soft skin before her hands sneak around and unhook her bra. Kat can’t help but bite her lip, still dumbstruck as her girlfriend allows her bra to fall to their living room floor.

There’s one last playful grin thrown over Adena’s shoulder before she’s bounding off towards their room, laughter trailing after her. Kat stands there for one more moment, just a few seconds, before her own laughter can be heard in the apartment as her hands find the hem of her dress and begins pulling off her clothing. By the time she’s moving through their doorway, she’s got her own bra off and thrown over her shoulder and Adena is…

 Adena is waiting for her.

 There’s a moment where the tone of the room changes. The playfulness leaves as soon as they lock eyes with one another, as soon as darkened gazes make their way down the others naked torso. Palpable tension builds and if anyone else were in the room they’d be forced to look away. As such, it’s just them; her and Adena, staring appreciatively, intensely at one another until their eyes find one another’s and Adena’s hand is gently thrust forward, reaching out for her.

 When she steps forward enough to be touched by her girlfriend, Adena’s hands find her hips first before she’s pulled in to the woman’s torso. A shared sigh and soft whimpers fall from both of them when their breasts touch, when Adena falls into Kat’s larger frame and her lips meet Kat’s collarbone. Kat can’t help it when she sighs and lets her eyes fall closed, Adena’s kisses running down across her chest and the tops of her breasts. Her hands find silky soft tresses and they tangle in the photographer’s hair. It feels so good to have Adena this close, to know that she’s right here with her and not in another country somewhere. That’s a constant fear of Kat’s, that one day this will be taken away from her, but she refuses to think of it now.

 Adena’s trailing her way down to her nipple and there’s a soft flick of her tongue before Kat’s enveloped in her mouth, the photographer sucking and swirling around the hardened nub. Kat’s breathing has started to get shallower and she’s holding her girlfriend close to her chest, arching up into her mouth and silently demanding Adena to not stop. Sneaking her hands down her lover’s torso, Kat begins at Adena’s hips while the woman stays at her breasts, sucking and nipping just how she knows Kat likes. Adena’s skin is so soft, mads that way by some homemade product her aunt ships to her from across seas back home, and Kat is amazed every time she touches the woman.

 Adena always smells so good, always looks so good. The woman takes pride in her appearance just as she takes pride in everything else about herself; her look is just another thing Kat truly loves. Yes, Adena is attractive. But that’s not what she means when she says this to Sutton and Jane. While Kat loves the way Adena looks (who doesn’t?) its more about the confident way she carries herself that draws Kat in. It’s in her eyes; Adena has the most expressive eyes Kat’s ever seen. It’s in the way she sees the world, the way she’s open to the harsh truths but still carries hope within her heart, it’s in the way she physically carries herself knowing that she’s in a hostile country – never backing down from those challenges. It is incredibly sexy to just watch Adena walk. Everyone looks at her, Kat knows, and maybe it’s not for the reasons Kat looks at her – proud of her girlfriend, watching her every move because she just can’t look away, feeling so much affection when Adena meets her eyes and grins – but Adena is a magnet and it’s not just from the controversy that she stirs up.

 It is all these things that sets Adena El Amin apart from everyone else Kat’s ever been attracted to. For Kat, attraction used to me the physical aspects of another human being. Their eyes, their smile, their musculature, the way they dress – those were what she looked for before Adena. But now she knows the difference of what it means to be physically attracted to someone and to be completely enamored with someone. Because Kat is enamored with Adena – she’s totally in love with Adena.

 So, when Adena sucks at her breasts, Kat’s hands clutching onto her hips before her own move up to cup the woman’s own, Kat is content to stay here and let Adena have her fill. Adena can do this all day if she wants if it keeps the woman happy. Kat for her part is content to stroke the woman’s hardened nipples between her hands until Adena is breathing raggedly into the skin of sternum and pressing hot, open mouthed kisses there. Moving the woman towards the bed, the back of Adena’s knees hit the edge before Kat has her gently sitting onto the bed.

 Brown eyes glance up and meet her own before Kat’s pulling her into a deep kiss, soft and wanton as they breathe each other in. The woman’s hands go to her own hips as Adena watches, pulling her underwear off in one fluid motion and throwing them in the corner somewhere. Because Kat’s watching Adena so closely, she doesn’t miss the way the woman’s eyes trail down between her legs and her tongue sneaking out to wet her lips in anticipation of tasting Kat.

 Adena is a pro at oral sex. Kat was astonished the first time Adena went down on her – in Peru – because the woman was such a master with her tongue. She had Kat coming embarrassingly quickly before she went down on her again simply because Kat asked for a repeat performance. She had no qualms about doing so even though her own arousal was clearly persistent between her own legs. Adena loved going down on Kat that much – as much as to forgo her own pleasure in exchange for her girlfriends taste in her mouth and a pair of clenching thighs over her ears.

 It makes Kat embarrassingly wet to remember just how enthusiastic Adena is when she’s got her mouth between Kat’s legs, but it also makes her just a bit guilty and more than a little curious about going down on Adena. Renewed with the want to experience her girlfriend first hand, Kat drops to her knees before the woman and reaches for the hem of Adena’s pants. 

 Adena, breathless and grinning from her perch on the mattress, tilts her hips up to allow Kat room to remove her pants and underwear. When they’re both naked, Kat is the one to enthusiastically move up quickly into Adena’s arms and lay her weight onto the woman. The photographer greets her with a long passionate kiss, one that they carry as long as possible before they have to break for air. Kat enjoys playing with Adena’s tongue, the soft flicks and the long strokes against her own, and it never takes much for them to get worked up simply from kissing. It’s why their first night in Adena’s flat together was so wonderful – they didn’t need to move farther than kissing and a little groping to be satisfied.

 Kat could kiss Adena’s forever but the woman beneath her isn’t having it. Her lovers hips are thrusting upwards into her conveniently placed thigh, grinding there, and Kat can feel how wet Adena is from here. Her hands move from gently holding Adena’s face down to the woman’s chest before she can cup the woman’s breasts. A hardened nipple can be felt in her palm before her thumbs and forefingers catch them softly in both hands and stroke. The deep moan that Adena releases at that has Kat catching the woman’s bottom lip between her teeth and softly biting.

 Adena’s hands dig into her back when she feels Kat’s dominant hand reaching, dragging across the insides of her thighs before her fingers sink into the abundant wetness there. Simultaneous moans can be heard from both at the feeling, kisses breaking and Kat pulling away until she can bump Adena’s forehead with her own, until she can watch her lover’s desires play out in her eyes. Expertly finding the woman’s clit, Kat knows the right way to move to have Adena shaking beneath her, to have her stuttering out expletives, clutching Kat’s back until she leaves scratches there. Sinking into Adena’s heat, feeling the woman’s walls clutching her fingers, Kat can’t help but imagine her tongue there instead and the next guttural moan is Kat’s own because the thought is… The thought of fucking Adena with her tongue, to have her squeeze around Kat like that is unbelievably hot.

Deciding that she’ll make Adena come this way first, thinking that it might make it less difficult to make Adena come with her mouth later, Kat is 100% sure that tonight is the night where she’s going to take that next step. She’ll know exactly what Adena tastes like by the end of the night – there is no going back.

And Adena, despite Kat’s little distraction, is clutching at Kat’s back while her pussy clutches at Kat’s fingers and all is right with the world. Kat is happily sucking hickeys into Adena’s collarbones, her lovers musical moans and soft whimpers and pleads right next to her ear, while she thrusts up into Adena, leveraging the strength of her thrusts largely with her movements. There’s a sudden change in Adena’s tone, deep moans turning into keening demands as Kat curls her fingers upwards, finds the spongy perfect place inside Adena and touching there just right to have her coming all over Kat’s fingers. Feeling the woman squeeze her rhythmically, Kat groans and curls harder, soft little thrusts fueling Adena’s orgasm and making her shake beneath the taller woman.

 Eyes clutched shut while she rests in the place where Adena’s shoulder meets her neck, Kat is content to wait out the woman’s recovery but is surprised when there’s a rather strong tug at her wrist. Slipping out of the woman, she hears the mumbled request of ‘sit on my face’ before she’s being pulled up by Adena’s surprising strength. Perching herself atop the woman’s face gently, careful not to rest too much of her weight there in her excitement, Adena meets her eyes with a devious little smirk before there’s a soft, wet tongue stroking through her folds with purpose. Breath catching, Kat clutches uselessly at the wall in front of her while she stares into Adena’s eyes.

 Adena knows exactly what Kat likes, those soft flicks of her tongue to work her up fast until she’s right on the edge and squeezing around the photographers’ tongue, but Adena never allows her to fall over too quickly. It’s something Kat loves, to be worked up fast but to have Adena slow, to tease her with long languid strokes of her tongue that have Kat’s eyes rolling into the back of her head, to soft suck at her clit until she’s throbbing in Adena’s mouth, to not allow her to fall over the edge until she glances down with a look and a nod to her lover – and then, and ONLY THEN, can Adena use those last few hard strokes in repeat until Kat’s clutching her ears with her thighs and shaking above her, cunt pulsing around Adena’s tongue hard.

It is no different this time and Kat careens over the edge with a shout and a fist full of her girlfriend’s hair. Nights like these are ‘one-orgasm a night’ for Kat because she’s far too sensitive after that to be brought over the edge again unless there’s a time slot between her last orgasm and her next. Realizing that her girlfriend would probably like more room to breathe, Kat is quick to begin moving off Adena’s face and down her body until she’s resting into her lover’s neck once more, breathing shallow and shaky as her body tenses every now and again from her orgasm. Adena’s arms hold her, hands brushing across her back in a silent apology and slight pride of all the scratches she’s left there. Kat doesn’t mind them one bit – wears them proudly and smirked at Sutton with a wink the last time she’d seen Kat without a shirt on, while Jane mentioned something about possibility of skin infections.

The slight sting of them remind Kat of the mission of seduction tonight and the want to taste Adena is stronger now than it had been before – something Kat didn’t actually think possible. Turning her head, she latches onto the skin beneath Adena’s ear, smirks when she hears the quiet satisfied moan, and licks up until she can whisper to the woman. “Can I taste you?” It’s an offered request, genuine and wanton, and Kat’s a little surprised when Adena’s lower torso thrusts up into her body with a desperate groan before there’s a shaky, enthusiastic nod from the older woman. A grin forming on Kat’s face, still a little bit nervous but ultimately more excited, the director begins making her way down her girlfriend’s body with more purpose.

Catching Adena’s nipple in her mouth, Kat laves over it with her tongue, taking her time with both breasts before she’s forced to move on with a soft touch to the top of her head and a desperate look from her lover. Tongue following a line down the woman’s torso, skimming over her belly button, Kat presses soft kisses to Adena’s stomach, loving the feminine softness there, before she’s sucking softly at one of Adena’s hip bones. “Kat…” There’s a whine from above that has her opening her eyes and letting the reddened skin slip from her mouth.

Adena is clutching the pillow beside her head hard in her hands, Kat can make out the white knuckled grip from her, and her eyes are hazy with her desire. She looks completely debauched and there’s still a slight glisten on her lips from Kat. The image makes Kat groan and hide her face into the skin of Adena’s stomach. There is no one sexier than Adena El Amin and Kat Edison knows this. She knows it well because no one has ever made her feel this good, this tortured, from one look alone.

Deciding that the woman will kill her if she has to see that begging stare again, Kat gets a move on and stops working her girlfriend up. Slipping down between Adena’s legs, the first thing Kat notices is the smell. It’s heady and indescribable, totally and completely Adena. Kat knows that she likes it immediately and that gives her courage to carry on through the insecurity she feels. Situating Adena’s thighs over her shoulders, Kat presses several kisses to the vulnerable flesh of Adena’s inner thighs, inhaling the woman’s scent and the leftover smell of her lotion there. Her tongue peeking out, Adena makes a pleased squeak – something Kat’s never heard before – when the wet muscle makes contact with the sacred place where her thigh and groin meet. Kat can’t help but grin at the sound before she glances up with questioning look but Adena doesn’t look the least bit embarrassed and only shrugs with a darkened intense glare of arousal fixated on Kat between her legs.

For the first time since arriving between Adena’s thighs, Kat glances down between her lover’s thighs. It makes her breathing shallow and shaky when she observes how pretty Adena is down here. They’ve only been dating a short while and Kat has never actually seen Adena’s vagina up close and personal like this but it’s so… pretty. She’s glistening wet and her clit protrudes from its hood, wanton and pink. She’s so pink down here and she’s flushed. She smells good, she’s wet, and she’s just so pretty.

So, the first flick of Kat’s tongue against Adena’s clit is exploratory but nonetheless confident. The jump of Adena’s hips, the loud catch in the woman’s breathing, and the immediate tenseness in her thighs, has Kat feeling confident. She finds the way Adena tastes to be pleasant but more so when she’s able to lick from the source, tipping her tongue gently and cluelessly into the woman’s tight opening and feeling her clench there. It all feels so soft underneath her tongue – so unlike a man – and while Kat doesn’t know what she’s doing exactly, she knows she has to take care of Adena, wants more than anything to take care of her. It’s a primal sort of thing – to want to protect and please your lover here – weird but exciting nonetheless and Kat’s tongue focuses on the hard nub of nerves. When she does this, Adena’s moans change, her thighs tense and a hand weaves through her hair, tilting her just slightly until she’s at a spot where her licks become bolder, emboldened by this new sound that Adena makes when she does it just right. Kat is thankful for the help and relaxes between Adena’s thighs, the hand not holding the woman’s waist down sweeping up to entwine with Adena’s own. She can’t help but wonder why she was so nervous about this earlier. Adena is leading her, has been leading her since the day they met, and Kat doesn’t feel embarrassed that she needs a little help finding her way. Largely, her instincts tell her where and how to lick and when she’s unsure in the beginning, Adena is there to guide her physically to the right place while her moans and the way she twitches beneath Kat tell her what motions to stick to, how hard to push and how to lick. Listening and watching the way Adena’s face changes gives her every tell in Adena’s book and by the time Adena’s thrusting up into her face, on the edge of coming, Kat is almost a professional in how to eat Adena El Amin out.

But Kat almost doesn’t want to stop. She can see why Adena likes this so much. It’s softer, wetter, and tastes better than boys she’s been with. Adena’s cum is soft and feminine on her tongue unlike the strong salt that comes with men, and her thrusts are softer, gentler unlike the hard and fast thrusts that come with a lot of the men Kat had been with before. Adena tastes, smells amazing and feeling her arch, throb, and clench on Kat’s tongue has her a craven addict by the time Adena’s moans become higher, her breathing faster, and when she comes (when Kat finally allows her to and stops teasing it out) it’s with a strong hand in her hair, thighs around her ears, and a shaking, moaning mess of a woman beneath her.

And when Kat meets with Jane and Sutton the morning after she goes down, Kat is grinning ear to ear and can’t help but feel on top of the world. Because Adena El Amin was breathless, boneless and looking up at her like a God after she’d came in Kat Edison’s mouth last night and it was better than anything Kat could imagine.


	3. Sick Adena (fluff)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adena gets sick while they're in Peru and Kat takes care of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings. Just whatever this is.

Adena and the Stomach Flu

 

                   Adena normally sleeps through the night. Kat is an early riser, cheery as ever in the mornings, while Adena sleeps as much as she can after attending to prayers. Adena loves sleep and is usually the one who pushes Kat into the bedroom so that she’ll have someone to talk to or spoon with. She loves being held and keeps Kat’s hands captive as her arms wrap around her, holding them where they meet in the middle of her torso and keeping them there. There have only been a few mornings when Kat hasn’t woken up wrapped in Adena and she’s confused when there’s sudden movement in the bed, no Adena in her arms. 

                  Bleary blinking open, she’s met with darkness and the sound of feet running across the bedroom towards the bathroom. Alarmed, Kat quickly pushes the blankets up and off her body, gets out of bed and races several paces behind her girlfriend. The sound of heaving meets her ears before she sees rounds the corner and sees Adena. The woman is sprawled out on their bathroom floor, holding the toilet bowl as she empties the contents of her stomach into the porcelain. Kat grimaces, her own stomach doing a funny twist at the noise, but she pays her own discomfort little mind before she’s kneeling behind her girlfriend and leaning forward to pull Adena’s hair out of her face. Moving the shower curtain out of the way, she reaches for the wet, cool wash cloth left from their bath earlier, ignoring the batting hands that Adena throws her way, Kat raises the woman’s hair until she can slide the wet cloth over the back of Adena's neck as the woman tries to regain herself and not dry heave anymore.

                  Stroking Adena’s back, Kat keeps her hair out of the way just in case she throws up again, she leans forward to press a kiss to Adena’s warm bare shoulder. The woman’s skin is feverishly hot, and Kat raises a hand to feel her flushed cheeks as the photographer groans in discontent while Kat frowns at the fever she can feel. “Alright, baby?” It’s a stupid question, Kat knows, but this is the first time she’s seen Adena sick and she’s protective of the woman; she’s really asking if she needs to be taken to the doctor right away or if there’s something else she needs. “I’m nauseous,” Adena groans, pulling herself away from the toilet with difficulty, Kat sliding up closer to meet her in the middle, leaning back until she can rest tiredly against Kat’s chest.

                  “I know,” Kat murmurs in agreement, Adena’s nausea being quite obvious, before she leans forward to flush for the woman. Rearranging her lover until she can drop the woman’s hair across her shoulders, Kat moves Adena’s hair away from her face before she strokes the cool cloth over her face. “That feels nice,” Adena whispers, keeping her gaze towards the floor in a way that makes Kat’s eyes come together. “Something wrong?” Adena won’t meet her gaze and there’s a _look_ on her face that Kat hasn’t seen before. “I’m sorry I threw up.” Scoffing with a head shake, Kat pulls the woman closer into her own body and tries not to fret over how hot Adena really is. “’Dena, you’re sick. And it’s my understanding that, as your girlfriend, I’m the one who’s going to take care of you while you’re sick.”

                  “But we’re in Peru and we were supposed to go out and do things tomorrow.” Adena cries, indignant and childishly. Kat tries not laugh at how childish Adena sounds, amazed that the mature woman is able to make such a sound. It occurs to Kat that they’re traveling and now Adena is sick. There is an icy fear racing through her veins as her brain unhelpfully supplies various different headlines from not so long ago about the Ebola outbreak. Kat needs to check something on her phone, but she can’t move with Adena in her lap. “What would you like to do? A bath? Do you want to try to lay down again?” At this, Adena turns until her nose is pressed into Kat’s shirt and her eyes close miserably. “I want tea,” she mumbles weakly and Kat’s heart squeezes at the pitiful display. “I can do that.” Kat assures, before she helps the woman up from the tiled bathroom and walks her over to the sink where she grabs Adena’s toothbrush and lays on some toothpaste before passing it to her. Kissing the woman’s sweaty forehead, Kat leaves her to brush her teeth.

                  On the way the kitchen, Kat grabs her phone off the bedside table and immediately unlocks to begin her google search of Ebola outbreaks and if it’s still a problem, particularly in this area. She knows that she’s likely being paranoid, but she is so in love with Adena that she thinks this type of worry is justified. Her worries appeased at the news, Kat goes about finishing up Adena’s tea and makes her way towards the bedroom where Adena is sitting on the bed, half asleep, waiting for Kat.

                  It is a miserable sight and Kat can’t help but smile sadly at the state of her girlfriend. Switching on the light, wincing at the way Adena flinches at the brightness, Kat is careful not to spill her tea before she hands it to the woman. “Small sips,” she warns, not wanting Adena to upset her stomach any more than it is, before she walks towards her baggage and digs through her belongings until she finds what she’s looking for. She picks the right medication for Adena to hopefully get some sleep and settle her stomach, walks over and sits on the floor in front of the woman whose perched on the bed and watching her with warm, miserable eyes. “Do you think you can take this for me?” Adena eyes the liquid medicine warily and Kat can see the question in her eyes before she voices it. “It’s alcohol free,” Kat assured the woman, watching the question disappear from her eyes, “and its cherry flavored which I know is, like, the worst one there is but it’ll make you feel better.”

                  She can see the sleepy clogs turning in Adena’s eyes, watching in slight amusement as she weighs her options (also akin to a child in the way that she keeps looking at the medicine with a grimace on her face) before she hesitantly nods. Kat gives her an encouraging smile that she returns with a sleepy, miserable one of her own, before she pours the proper dose for Adena and hands the lid over for the woman to drink. Adena sits with it for a moment, staring down at it as if her entire fate is swirling in their depths, before there’s a large sigh of defeat and then she’s taking the medicine. Kat watches her girlfriends face, wondering why this whole sick-Adena thing is cute, and smiles when Adena holds the lid out for Kat to take, smacking her lips distastefully with her face screwed up in disgust. Taking the lid, the grin on Kat’s face won’t dissipate as she stands and walks across the room, puts it next to the open bottle on the nightstand.

                  It’s interesting that her usually mature-beyond-her-years girlfriend reverts into a small child when she’s sick. Kat thinks that it makes sense in some kind of funny way and she feels bad for finding the behavior funny and cute because Adena is truly sick but… She’s only human. Grabbing the wash cloth in the bathroom, Kat takes the time to wash and wring it out before she heads back to Adena. “Get back into bed, baby,” she requests, and watches as Adena sits her tea on the bedside table before falling ungainly to her side. Rolling her eyes at the dramatics of her lover, Kat smiles as sleep eyes look up at her. Bending down, moving the woman onto her back, Kat takes the time to clean Adena’s chin where a drop of medicine is creeping down towards her neck before she sets the wet cloth down beside the bed. She’s reminded of all the lectures her mother used to give her when she was younger about not wasting a drop of medicine, but Kat doesn’t think it matters all that much.

                  Aden is on the verge of sleep once more, her eyes threatening to fall closed as she watches Kat. “You’re so pretty,” Kat can’t help but laugh, delighted at the dopey affectionate grin on her girlfriend’s face, before she dodges an uncoordinated hand trying to reach for her face. Holding it in her own, she brings it to her lips and presses several kisses there, listening as Adena hums. Of course, Adena El Amin is charming, even when she was sick and after having woken up at 3AM to throw up, no less. Not to mention, it is 3AM and Kat has no makeup on and she knows her hair is a mess – if she ever doubted Adena’s attraction to her this would have silenced her doubts. “Kat,” Adena whispers up at her as Kat fusses with her covers, “I’m dying.” A huff of disbelieving laughter can be heard as Kat shakes her head at the antics of her delirious girlfriend. Shaking her head, Kat bends to press a kiss to Adena’s forehead, not in the least bit worried that she might get sick as well. 

                  With Adena tucked in, Kat makes her way back to her own side of the bed. She is sleepy once more after the sudden excitement earlier and sighs happily when she’s back under the cover and laying down. It doesn’t take long for Adena to find her, the woman could set a record for how fast she can wrap around someone – Kat most certainly knows how adept Adena is physically. “Kat,” Adena murmurs once more, absolutely half-asleep as she mumbles into Kat’s sleep shirt, “I’m dying.” Kat stifles her own laughter to the best of her ability before she wraps her girlfriend up in her arms and pulls her as close as she can. “You’re not dying,” she assures the woman, “you’re only sick, that’s all. Go back to sleep.” Closing her eyes, she listens to her girlfriend fuss for a moment before she shushes her gently, hand stroking Adena’s back softly, Adena mumbling about her stomach and what time it was. It doesn’t take long after that for Adena to fall back asleep (Kat thinks she should be in some kind of sleep-Olympics) but it takes Kat a little longer.

                  It’s just that, she can picture herself doing this for a long time. Taking care of Adena is something Kat actually wants to do and it surprises her just a bit at how appealing the thought sounds. Kat ‘I don’t do relationships’ Edison becomes aware of the fact that she’s slowly coming to the terms of Adena El Amin being a permanent fixture in her life. It is still too soon to tell Adena this, still too scary, so she tightens her hold just a bit and presses a kiss to the woman’s forehead before she settles in and closes her eyes.


	4. Jealous Adena

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from Anon: “Can you do one where a girl hits on Kat at a party and Adena gets jealous and all touchy with Kat to make clear that she is her girlfriend?”

Jealous Adena

 

                  Kat gets invited to a lot of parties. They’re catered by Scarlet and she has to be there to promote the magazine on social media, to take pictures and just generally let the readers know Scarlet and who she is. Sometimes Adena comes along but sometimes she stays home. She wasn’t lying when she explained that she’s tired of the partying scene in New York. Kat used to love it, the parties, but lately it’s all been a little lackluster for her. She’s nearing thirty and her twenties have nearly come and gone. Oddly enough, she’s not upset about these facts. She’s at a point in her life where she’s peacefully content with how things have turned out.

                  Adena has had great success as an artist and photographer in the past three years and Kat couldn’t be prouder. She’s had her work showcased in Scarlet (again), Vogue, countless photography magazines and her ability to be controversial and unapologetic has earned her prestige amongst minorities who frequently scream about her work over social media. Kat’s come across a few fan pages dedicated to what she’s been working on recently and it is exciting. Kat’s own job is going well and she’s aware of talks of a promotion to Director of the Social Media Department at Scarlet. She’s positive that she’d take it if Jacqueline offered but she’s content as department head until that happens. Kat has Scarlet up to five million twitter followers now and it has been hard work that’s paid off very well. Adena, though she’s not a huge fan of technology or social media, is so proud of her and Kat is always enthused to tell her of a new milestone that she’s set for Scarlet. They celebrate these days with dessert before dinner and a romantic evening where they indulge in each other.

                  Kat is aware of how lucky she is. They had a difficult go of it in the beginning but Adena’s prestige as an artist has afforded her with a small amount of immunity from deportation. In other words, she hasn’t had near as much trouble with her Visa as she did before. Kat got her experimentation out of the way, knows what she likes and what she doesn’t, and it was tense between them for a while before Kat made it quite clear that she wanted no other woman besides Adena El Amin. They were on a trial period in their relationship, a period in which Kat felt that she needed to make it up to the woman, but that stopped when Adena explained that Kat was doing what was necessary for them to move on – for them to be what they are now. Kat tries not to think of that time period where things seemed so uncertain between them and focus only on the fact that they grew stronger in the face of that insecurity.

                  It’s not to say that they don’t still have problems. Kat hasn’t decided what the next five years might look like for her. She’s content with Adena, more than content, she’s never been happier, but she’s aware that Mama El Amin has been asking about grandchildren for quite some time now and she wants them to get on that. Kat adores Adena’s mother and Adena’s mother adores her. They met a year and a half ago when she was approved for a trip to the United States to attend Adena’s gallery opening and to stay for a few days before heading back home. She is a feisty woman who wears determination and the same fiery spirit as her daughter and she loves Kat right away, something Adena and her have in common. Kat knows that Adena’s father passed away some years ago and that he wasn’t accepting of her lifestyle, knows that he all but forbade Adena and her mother from speaking when Adena left home. She knows how important Adena’s mother is to her and she knows the woman isn’t getting any younger. It doesn’t rush her exactly, but it does give her something to think about when she sees kids walking with their parents in the city or by their apartment building. She wants their kids to meet Mama El Amin and be coddled by her, to be swept up into her welcoming hugs and to receive cheek kisses and encouragements.

                  Kat thinks about marriage more than children. She thinks about buying a home with Adena, something to really call their own instead of Kat’s apartment. Kat is aware that her lease is once again up soon and she’s trying to build the courage to tell Adena, to ask her if she’s ready to take that step and find somewhere that might be a better fit, somewhere they might be able to grow a family and make a home. She’s not explained that she wants these things yet but neither has Adena. Although, Kat thinks that Adena is waiting for her to take the lead with this conversation. She does that when she’s nervous, afraid that she might scare Kat away – it was the same with oral sex and their open relationship. Kat has confronted her on it in the past, of not letting Kat’s wants and needs take over the relationship, but Adena still struggles with finding courage to voice her own wants and needs when she thinks it might make Kat nervous. For someone who knows what she wants, what she needs, Adena has a fear of pushing Kat away so she bottles up things that have even the slightest bit of potential to turn Kat off. They’ve talked about it and Adena works to be more open about these things.

                  Still, Kat knows that it will most likely be her who voices this want. Not that it’s a job. In fact, Kat believes that Adena would be happier if she were the one to mention this rather than her lead the conversation. Kat knows that Adena is always worried about Kat’s feelings fading or Kat wanting something Adena can’t give so telling the photographer that Kat wants to plan a life with her is something important. If she says it, it will erase some of the doubt that Adena still carries about their relationship, about Kat’s feelings.

                  Her lover is here with her tonight and Kat’s had these thoughts on her mind these last few weeks. Adena has asked countless times if something is wrong, paying close attention to when she catches Kat looking at her with a particular look on her face, but Kat can’t bring herself to spill things yet. Largely it’s because she doesn’t quite know how to say what she wants to say. She still has a lot of difficulty speaking about her feelings, coming clean about how she feels and laying herself out to be vulnerable. It is still her weak spot, but she knows she’s going to have to get past that. Even Sutton and Jane have been giving her pep talks in the closet, listening to her practice speeches and rubbing their forehead when Kat doesn’t take their advice to just talk to Adena like they normally do.

                  Most of their conversations now revolve around the fact that she still needs to tell Adena and they’ve just left her side when there’s a soft tap on her shoulder. Turning around, she expects to see Adena who left shortly to go and find a bathroom, but she sees someone she vaguely recognizes from work in front of her instead. Moving her braids over one shoulder, Kat offers the twenty-something year old a polite smile and a curious tilt of her head as she waits for the girl to say whatever it is she needs to say to Kat. She knows her from Marketing, Kat realizes, and they met briefly last week when Kat was giving a presentation on how to effectively use social media in ad campaigns. She’s forgotten her name but Kat knows that she’s the newest and youngest member of the sales team.

                  “Hi! It’s Kat, right?” There is an unmistakable sparkle in the girl’s eyes as she gently thrusts her hand into the space between their bodies. “I’m Lindsey, I met you briefly last week at that Marketing meeting.” Kat glances down at the offered hand before she puts forth her own and softly shakes the woman’s hand.

                  “I do remember you, actually. You were the only other woman in the room, so it isn’t hard to keep track.” Kat wonders if that’s rude, what she just said, but there wasn’t a snide tone or anything to her voice. Still, Lindsey seems disappointed at Kat’s blatantly disregard for her flirty looks. Still, she laughs and reaches forward until her hand is brushing Kat’s forearm, leaning forward into the woman’s space as Kat takes a step back out of respect for Adena, wherever she is. Lindsey doesn’t seem deterred by this at all but her hand falls from Kat’s arm as it’s a little awkward to still hold it there when Kat moved away.

                  “I really enjoyed your presentation, actually. It was nice to have another woman in there with me rather than all the men that I usually deal with in business. It can be difficult to find other likeminded women to talk with.” The conversation isn’t blatantly flirtatious but the looks that Lindsey keeps giving Kat are and there is a distinct tone in her voice that lets Kat know that this is not just a friendly conversation. Kat feels trapped all of a sudden, uncomfortable with the attention from a coworker.

                  She works with this woman and she knows that she’ll see her again at some point since she works closely with the Marketing team. If she brushes the woman off then things could get awkward at work and she could make things difficult for Kat but on the other hand Kat wants to find Adena and go home because that’s where she belongs, she has little interest in this woman’s interest in her. She would be so easy to blow off if they weren’t coworkers. Opening her mouth to say that she has to excuse herself, she’s cut off by a familiar voice.

                  “ _Joon_ ,” A smile immediately develops on her face as Adena makes her appearance known with a flourish of her satin overcoat. She’s wearing an outfit similar to a previous outfit she wore at her first Scarlet party, Kat remembers. She looks beautiful, her eyes catching Kat’s and softening upon meeting her gaze. Her hijab a deep blue silk that brings out her skin tone, framing her face, Adena is the most beautiful woman Kat has ever seen. That hasn’t changed, this awe-inspiring affect that Adena has on Kat, and Kat suspects it never will. She’s seen Adena before now, had her with her all night until she needed to find the bathroom, but its always like the first time when Kat sees her. Her heart beats faster, her cheeks flush, a wide grin takes over her face, and her palms sweat. It just the way of things.

                  “Hi baby,” Kat greats cheerfully, completely ignoring the woman in front of them who had just been flirting with Kat, before Adena steps closer and Kat can pull her into her side, pressing close, leaning down and giving her a soft kiss to her cheek. Adena immediately takes hold of Kat’s hip and turns into the kiss until she can press their lips together. Normally Kat wouldn’t mind but she has a sneaking suspicion that this is for Lindsey more than it is for Kat. Backing down from the kiss, Kat leans forward to press a kiss to Adena’s forehead before turning her attention back to Lindsey who is watching with a forlorn expression that she immediately masks.

                  “Have you met Adena?” Kat offers, friendly and casual in the face of the awkwardness permeating the air. Adena for her part stays silent and offers a smug grin to the woman. Lindsey backs down, thankfully, and shakes her head.

                  “I can’t say I’ve had the pleasure! I’m familiar with your work, Ms. El Amin.” From the sound of her voice, Kat can tell that Lindsey is grudgingly impressed by her girlfriend, has respect for Adena’s photography and she can feel Adena relax into her side when there’s not a scent of competition in the air.

                  They talk for a few moments more before Lindsey thankfully excuses herself and takes her leave. Kat stands silently for a moment before she shoots a look down at her shorter counterpart whose watching her with intensity. Adena is an intense being by nature. She was born to be an artist and the way that she sees the world is still the best part of Kat’s day when she gets to hear about Adena’s opinion, her feelings, on just everyday things. In the past, Kat would often look away as soon as their eyes met. Adena was intimidating, especially when they first met and were still in that ‘are we friends or are we more’ stage of their relationship. But Kat’s found her own intensity lately and she hasn’t backed down from Adena’s searching stare for a long while now. Her own intensity isn’t home grown like Adena’s is – she wasn’t born with it – but rather it grew with every ounce of love that her soul could possibly hold for one person, this one person beside her. As she’s gotten older, as she’s gotten more mature, Kat has steadily fell into herself gradually. It was a messy ride, but she can honestly say that she likes who she is and that wouldn’t be so if she didn’t have Adena. Adena was the one who woke Kat up and she needs to know that Kat never wants to wake up – metaphorically or otherwise – without her again.

                  But not here. Not in front of these people most of whom Kat cares little about, if at all. Not when Adena is looking at her with a slight worry in her eyes, wondering if she overstepped her boundaries or if she upset Kat. Not when all Kat wants to do is take Adena home and explain to her what she’s been trying to say for so long now. That worry has to leave her eyes, however. Kat can’t give the kind of kiss she wants to give Adena in front of all these people, it isn’t exactly who they are as a couple and Adena isn’t a fan of hard PDA, neither is Kat, but she has to do something.

                  Turning into Adena at her side, Kat cradles Adena’s head and pulls her in gently until she can press a kiss to the woman’s forehead. It’s intimate, more intimate than they like to get in public, but Adena’s hands find the front of Kat’s button up, holding onto the material, and she’s got her eyes closed as Kat’s lips meet her forehead again and again. “What was that?” Kat doesn’t care that Adena basically staked her claim in the middle of a Scarlet party or that she’ll have to see Lindsey again at Marketing meetings, she doesn’t care about any of that. What she cares about is the fact that Adena felt the need to do that in the first place. Pulling back, Kat casts her eyes down until they fall into deep dark brown. Adena has beautiful eyes and in Kat’s dreams their children have those same eyes; probing, inquisitive, full of passion and life. They look guilty and the slightest bit shameful as they stare up at Kat.

                  “I didn’t like the way she was looking at you,” Adena explains, voice firm and confident even as her eyes say otherwise. “I didn’t like the way she touched you either, like she had some right to do that.” Adena doesn’t offer an apology and Kat isn’t asking for one, she simply nods in acceptance and takes a step back from Adena before casting her eyes across the party, searching for a sign of Jane and Sutton.

                  “Let’s go and find Jane and Sutton, say goodnight and head home. I’m done here, and I think that there are some things that we need to talk about.” Adena looks nervous but nods in agreement before she hesitantly takes Kat’s hand, entwines their fingers. It makes Kat’s heart squeeze, the uncertainty, and Kat raises their hands to her lips, presses a single kiss to the back of Adena’s hand before she pulls the woman forward into her side and begin to make their way through the party.

                  They’re both quiet on the way to their shared apartment, lost in their own individual thoughts. There is a song playing in the car that Kat vaguely recognizes, and she hums along lowly, barely audible though she thinks she sees Adena’s head tilt towards her as if she’s listening. They get home quicker than Kat thought they would and there is a nervous energy building in her stomach that she recognizes as anticipation. The walk up to their apartment is quiet but as soon as the door is shut and they’re both inside Adena begins.

                  “Kat, I am truly sorry if I upset you with my display tonight. I trust you, I do. I just,” she hesitates, gestures uselessly until her hands fall to her sides, “I think about everything we’ve been through and I know that we’re solid and nothing has been able to break us apart. I just worry sometimes? And it’s not even about you! It’s my own insecurities getting the best of me and I want us to be on the same page Kat…” Adena carries off and Kat stands silently in the living room before taking off her coat and laying it on their table. Moving into their kitchen, she fills a kettle with water before placing it on the stove. Adena likes tea after she’s been out in the cold and Kat knows that. “Kat- “

                  “Do you want to build a life with me?” Kat asks casually but also not casual at all, cutting Adena off before she can get herself worked up or worried. The woman looks confused when Kat turns around to face her, wondering where this is coming from and what kind of question that is, what the appropriate response should be. “I want to make a life with you, Adena.” Kat nods, sure of herself and confident, and Adena’s eyes change. She’s realizing what kind of speech this is and she doesn’t want to look away because Kat gets into these beautiful tangents when she realizes things about herself, about what she wants, and Adena can never bring herself to turn away. Kat has only gotten more attractive over time and Adena wishes she had her camera handy to capture this moment, to photograph the look in Kat’s eyes and keep it perfectly captured forever. Something a memory can’t do.

                  “I know that we haven’t talked about what we want in five years or ten or fifteen or twenty. I know that I’m not forthcoming with my feelings a lot of the time, most of the time, and I realize that I made a mistake. Once again, when I was trying to work out how to tell you these things, I neglected to think about how this might seem to you. So, I want you to know… No, I really need you to know that you are It.” Adena is wearing this soft smile and she looks so _proud_ that Kat is finally broaching this subject with her, is opening the floor so that they can talk about it. “When I think about who I want to spend my life with – It’s you. When I think of who I want by my side through thick and thin, who I want to raise kids with and build a home with – It’s you. It’s you, Adena. It’s always been you. It always will be you.” This brings tears to Adena’s eyes because it’s been such a long time coming, all of this, and it feels as if she can breathe, as if she can relax now that she knows Kat wants the same things she does. A future together, a family, a home. Things that Adena has been craving for such a long time. Stability and a true place to call her own – her home with Kat and whoever comes later.


	5. Kat wants to learn Farsi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kat just wants to make things easier for Adena.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by: micckkeeey02 on tumblr. 
> 
> Find me on eternalnicwrites and request prompts.

Kat asks to learn Farsi

 

Adena has excused herself from the table in the middle of Kat’s kitchen when her phone rings. They’re having a double date with Sutton and Jane – strictly platonic – and they’re playing monopoly, which Sutton mysteriously seems too good at, when Adena’s mother calls. Kat sort of zones out from her conversation with Jane and Sutton as she listens to the way Adena’s accent and native tongue comes to life. Adena doesn’t speak English or French the way she speaks Farsi. That sounds silly but there’s a different way in the way she actually _sounds_ that Kat is referring to.

Her voice is different, lively, and she finds words quickly and seems to know exactly what she wants to say, never having to pause to unless it’s necessary for the conversation. Adena is well versed in the English language but it is nothing compared to how comfortable she is with Farsi. English will always be a third language to Adena – not even second since she learned French before to attend Speos – and no matter how excellent she is, it is not her first language. It isn’t the language that she grew up speaking, isn’t the language she learned to read in, it isn’t the language that is written inside of Adena’s soul, in her very skin. It isn’t the language that she’s required to speak now, in the United States – a place where her very heritage is threatened and erased.

Kat is well versed in the language of Adena. She isn’t fluent yet but she’s learning with each new day. She knows little things that seem to turn into big things – Adena always wants her tea a little sweeter in the mornings, she has separate drawers for her headscarf’s and they are all in a meticulous order so that she can find them easier, she likes to leave her prayer rug and her Quran out beside the bed on a table passed down from her grandparents so that its right there in the mornings when she wakes up, she reads for at least thirty minutes every night before bed, she’s always warm even when its freezing, and she tries really hard to not miss Iran.

It is impossible to not miss her family but Adena seems to function in a space where she has familiar things immediately at her fingertips. It seems obvious, everyone is like that, but Adena goes out of her way to buy things that are _authentic_ from Iran or, at the very least, Persian. Almost all of the décor in her apartment is shipped from overseas – something Kat is baffled by – to be placed in the _perfect_ spot each time. She has expensive Persian rugs, Persian lamp shades, Persian curtains, Persian bedspreads, she even gets some of her tea (a very special blend of spices and chai that her mother prepares) shipped from Iran to the United States when she’s feeling especially homesick. And these possessions are taken in with such care that you’d think they were entities themselves.

America does not have the architecture, the language, or the essence of the middle east. The colors aren’t as bold, as rich, and Kat’s told that the fabrics are even different – or feel different – by Adena when they’re shopping at a flea market one day. America is a land of mixed cultures with the Americans (to which Kat can say because she _is_ one) largely threatening to overshadow and oppress every other culture and heritage that is different to their own. Kat isn’t naïve to this fact, but it becomes even more apparent when they begin to date seriously. There is nothing here for Adena that looks vaguely familiar to what she can find at home. And that’s what Iran is to Adena – Home.

Kat is told that Persians are social creatures. That becomes apparent when Kat meets Adena’s friends and is throw by just how many there are. They are touchy, sometimes overbearing in their generosity and hospitality, and they are dramatic, theatrical. Kat hasn’t met many Persians before Adena but her world expands to accompany Adena’s Persian network of friends that she’s accumulated over the years. Kat can say without a doubt that there are at least three invitations to some gathering or another a month for them to attend. And it strikes Kat, after meeting Adena’s Persian friends, that Americans are very different creatures from Persians.

American’s generally wish to be left alone. They don’t want anyone to tell them how to live their life and the social life isn’t as vibrant or full as a Persian’s seems to be. In Kat’s experience, American’s are anti-social compared to what Adena’s told her of Persians. Her home life in Iran was filled with parties, weddings, big family birthdays, family prayers, all of these things in which large numbers of people gathered, happily, and shared a space – a blessing, Adena called it, to be surrounded by so much love and so much family.

All of this breaks Kat’s heart. Because Adena has none of that here. She’s reminded of that fact more and more lately and its caused a real strain inside of her. She doesn’t know how to broach the subject with Adena. She doesn’t feel as if it’s her place, or that its right, to ask Adena how she goes about living a life that seems – to Kat at least – so much lonelier, so dull compared to her vibrant life in Iran. It seems such a spiteful question. It isn’t but Kat tries to remind herself that Adena chooses to be here, her work is here, that home represents an actual struggle of safety because of who she is, that Kat is here and Adena doesn’t want to leave Kat or her friends behind.

But it really upsets her to know that Adena can’t have it all. She can’t have her family and be accepted for who she is. She can’t live in Iran and not be in danger of having to hide. She can’t be completely happy in America because her family is back in Iran and there are people here who actually _hate_ her just because of who she is. She can’t have Kat, all of her family, her friends in her life at the same time because those worlds don’t coexist. The only thing those two worlds have in common is Adena. Adena is the glue that connects her American life to her Persian life.

Kat can’t explain how much she admires her girlfriend. She feels proud to even use that title – girlfriend. Kat knows that finding your identity in the midst of hate, in the midst of simple life, isn’t easy. She’s biracial, she’s queer, and she’s a woman. Those are all things that Kat has had to come to terms with in some ways to find self-acceptance. She’s aware that she’s unable to do anything but cheer Adena on, support her from the sidelines, in her own struggle of self-acceptance but damn is she proud. Proud because Adena gets up every day in the face of this countries hate towards people like her, in the face of every homophobe, in the face of her controversial religion and she says a big “fuck you” to all of that and is true to herself.

She tries desperately not to let her admiration for her girlfriend overcome the fact that Adena has real struggles, real insecurities, and real flaws. It isn’t easy because there’s so much to be proud of when Kat stops and thinks about her but she’s manages to remind herself that Adena isn’t perfect. The woman is beyond stubborn, secretly insecure, reluctant to voice her opinion when she knows it might upset Kat, and she’s just trying her best. Adena is just out here struggling, like Kat, to stay afloat. But she makes it look graceful, doesn’t she?

So, it’s times like these when Kat is reminded of a very sobering fact; America isn’t Adena’s home, it never will be, and Adena can hide very well. Which means that her girlfriend is going to get homesick and there’s a big possibility that she won’t tell Kat. It’s these thoughts that make it difficult for Kat to be in a relationship. Theirs hasn’t been easy but what makes it hard is when they keep things from one another. But this isn’t like a secret or a thought that they’ve had – this is obvious. Of course, Adena is going to get homesick. But Kat really wishes that the woman would let her know how she can help.

But is it even her responsibility to help? Is it okay to want to help? These are the questions that plague Kat’s mind at night when she can’t sleep. It’s due to her lack of experience, she thinks, with relationships that has her so nervous about what she can ask and what she can do. It causes anxiety inside of her – the thought of Adena never being truly happy – but she doesn’t feel as if she can tell Adena that. Because Kat knows that she makes the woman happy, Adena has told her that countless times, but wouldn’t she be happier if she could have it all?

“Hey,” Sutton calls her attention, Kat’s eyes jumping to her friends concerned, questioning face. “Are you okay? You look like you’re contemplating our existence right now, your face is so intense.” Kat can feel her mouth get dry as her eyes flicker and meet Adena’s, whose smiling and still talking on the phone, distracted but pleased to see Kat.

“I think I’m going to ask Adena to teach me how to speak Farsi.” It’s out before she contemplates it as an option. It doesn’t scare her but it does make her nervous because there’s no doubt that Adena will ask her why she wants to learn and Kat will have to tell her – _‘I just want to make you happy. I just want you to not have to give up any more than you already do to be with me, to be here. Because you deserve the world and I wish that I could give it to you.’_

“Why?” Jane cuts in, curious as she glances over the board and strategizes on how best to go about winning. They’re talking low enough, Sutton and Jane having picked up on the way Kat’s voice was so quiet, that Adena can’t hear them murmuring to each other. Still, Kat flickers her gaze every so often towards her direction to make sure she isn’t listening in before turning her attention back to her two best friends.

“I just can’t stop thinking about how much Adena gives up being here, you know?” They don’t know, not really, because they’re her friends but they aren’t in a relationship with Adena. They don’t know exactly how much the woman gives up. “And this seems like such a small thing that I can do to give her back a little of home, you know? English isn’t her first language, it isn’t even her second, and I feel like language is such an integral part of who we are, right? So, I feel like it’s important.”

“That is so romantic,” Sutton whispers, inspired and in awe of her friend, always being swept up in the romance of a story. Jane is the practical one, the one who keeps them grounded so they don’t go floating off into neverland, and she’s looking at Kat critically.

“Ignore her for a moment,” Jane tilts her head to the side in Sutton’s direction and Kat meets her eyes, challenge growing. “Kat, you know that Adena is _choosing_ to be here. _She’s_ choosing that,” the way Jane is speaking, highlighting some words and not the others, makes it hit home in some way. “You don’t have to feel guilty for that. You don’t have to feel like you’re depriving her of these things. It’s not _your_ decision to make, okay? So, don’t feel guilty because I know Adena wouldn’t want you to.” Sutton is nodding along with her and then pointing with her thumb to Jane before giving her a thumbs up, approving of what the girl said. Kat goes to speak but is interrupted.

“I wouldn’t want you to what?” Adena inquires, tone curious and a tad worried, noticing the looks on Kat and Jane’s face, but Kat jumps in before anyone thinks to say anything else – not that Sutton and Jane would spill the beans on Kat’s insecurities.

“Wouldn’t want me to trade monopoly pieces with you!” Kat reaches out to take the Eiffel Tower from Adena, who snatches her hand away quickly and pulls it towards her chest protectively.

“You agreed to be the dog! I have the Eiffel Tower because I lived there, and it holds a soft spot for me,” Adena explains, for the third time tonight as Kat had taken a liking to the tower but got stuck with the dog when Jane took the car and Sutton took the cowboy hat.

“It has drool on it Adena. They included drool on the metal piece for the dog and it’s turning me off,” Kat deadpans, to which Sutton chuckles and Adena shrugs, not caring in the slightest about Kat’s struggles. Jane watches on, amused, as the couple bickers back and forth before sharing an eye roll with Sutton regarding their couple-y antics.

 

* * *

 

It takes Kat four days to find a Farsi instructor online. She doesn’t ask Adena, doesn’t tell her what she’s going to do, because she’s afraid the woman will discourage her from learning. Not that Adena would do so because she doesn’t want Kat to learn but if she knew the reason, that Kat is doing it for her in the hopes that it makes things easier, that it shows she’s trying, then she might discourage her from doing so because she’s doing it solely for Adena. That’s not _exactly_ true but true enough – she wouldn’t be learning if Adena wasn’t in her life, hadn’t opened her world. Kat also believes that it would make things a lot easier when she’s around Adena’s Persian friends and, hopefully in the future, her family. When she’s out with Adena and her Farsi speaking friends, they do their best to include her. But some, if not most, of them haven’t been speaking English for as long as Adena has and they stumble or switch between the two languages interchangeably. Kat is fine with it, understands, but it would be amazing if she could speak with them in a way that could bridge that gap – that way she could understand what they were saying when they couldn’t find the words to speak to her.

Farrah, her instructor, agrees to meet Kat every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday after work. She doesn’t want to lie to Adena but she’s nervous about telling her. Sutton and Jane convince her that it needs to be done – Kat can’t just skip out three days a week to go see a woman that Adena’s never met. Kat agrees that it could lead to some potential problems between them – they don’t have the best luck relationship wise – and so she buys a bottle of wine, cooks’ pasta from scratch, and waits anxiously for her girlfriend to come home.

She’s in the kitchen, sitting at her table, when she hears Adena’s keys rattle in the door. She’d given her a set for convenience but also because she likes having the woman in her space. Her leg jumps up and down nervously, a fast-paced rhythm that Kat only takes up when she’s nervous. It’s her give away, she knows, so she does her best to stop it. Rising from her chair, she lights up as soon as she sees Adena rounding the corner, a large grin taking over her face at the sight of Adena’s own smile. They meet in the middle, Kat’s hands falling to Adena’s waist, Adena’s arms rising to wrap around Kat’s shoulders before she bends to meet Adena in a kiss. She has to bend further down than usual as Adena has taken her shoes off at the door – per usual for her because she refuses to wear them indoors; an Iranian custom never to be broken. It’s soft, sweet, but no less intense or passionate than when they’re truly kissing. They’ve always had this electric connection, this energy between them, and Kat’s only felt that with Adena – it’s why getting together with her was unavoidable, why it pushed Kat to go after what she truly wanted.

“Hello, _joon-am_.” Adena greets with a soft smile, pulling back to meet Kat’s eyes. She looks beautiful today, always looks beautiful, and Kat takes the time to lean in and bury her face in the place where Adena’s should meets her neck. Hugging the woman, she takes comfort in the soft hands that rub her back, relishing the intimacy of the embrace. “You cooked,” a delighted observation, accent shining beautifully, Adena pulls away and comes around Kat to enter the kitchen. She looks over the set table with an air of silent pleasure around her, a small pleased smile on her lips. “What’s the occasion?” She can tell that Adena is wracking her brain to figure out why Kat went to all the trouble of making dinner for them tonight when they usually go out or order takeout – if they stay in, it’s usually Adena whose cooking.

“Does there have to be one?” Kat asks, curious with a tilt of her head. Adena immediately denies the assumption but Kat can tell she’s still curious. Wringing her hands nervously, ignoring the way her girlfriend is looking at her, Kat clears her throat and steps around the table to grab the bottle of wine for herself before glancing over her shoulder and catching Adena’s eyes, who’s looking shamelessly at the strip of skin above Kat’s pants where her shirt has ridden up as she grabs glasses. “What do you want to drink, love?”

“Do you still have _Doogh_?” Adena asks curiously, eyeing the fridge. _Doogh_ is a yogurt-based drink that Adena seems to enjoy but Kat finds a very acquired taste. Still, she makes it because she knows that Adena likes it and the recipe is simple enough; salt, yogurt, milk, water, mint, ice.

“There’s some fresh in the fridge that has your name on it.” Kat answers, grinning as she watches the way Adena’s eyes light up. She pulls down two glasses for them – a wine glass for herself, a regular glass for Adena – before pulling the chilled drink and wine from the fridge. She leaves Adena to make her own drink after she pours herself a glass of wine and goes about fixing their plates. Pasta was a big deal in her house growing up. Her mother loves Italian food and had shown Kat how to make breads, pizzas, pastas when she was small. It didn’t happen often because her parents were always very busy, but Kat remembered every recipe because it was so rare.

Placing their plates down upon the table, she and Adena take their seats. Adena compliments her cooking just as she always does, and they talk about her new photo series, the possibility of Kat’s department being expanded and how she feels about that. It’s a normal conversation for them, just relaying their daily life to one another, but Kat’s been strangely quiet and Adena keeps looking at her knowingly. It lasts until they’re done with dinner and Adena’s finished her drink, immediately getting up and putting the kettle on in order to make Chai tea.

It is such an Adena thing to do. Kat has come to associate tea with Adena and often picks up the kinds she knows the woman likes from a Persian market downtown every time she passes. Adena goes through a lot of tea in a week and she’s always in need of more so it’s a gift that Kat keeps on giving. The pause in conversation allows Kat to do up the dishes but her silence is telling and it’s not long before Adena asks.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” It isn’t accusing or spiteful, simply concerned. Kat is often compared to a cat – she can spook easily and Adena tries to let her come to her on her own with her problems. For the most part, it works. It wasn’t always like that though and Kat still occasionally needs an opening to discuss things – like now. She thinks of a way that she could say what she needs to say but settles for the simplest truth.

“I’m taking lessons in Farsi,” She sounds far more confident than she feels and there’s a silence behind her that makes her nervous. She leaves the dishes in the sink and grabs a towel, drying her hands before she turns around. Adena looks lost, confused, and displeased.

“Why would you want to keep that from me?” Now Adena sounds upset which is the last thing Kat wants. Her girlfriend leans on the table, resting her weight on one hand, and Kat finds herself mirroring the position, relaxing into the sink behind her back. “Kat I would never discourage you from doing something that you wanted to do, you know that.” But she sounds unsure suddenly, a crease forming in her brow and this isn’t what Kat wants. “You know that, right? I would have given you lessons if you asked. If you ask.”

And of course, she does. But –

“I was afraid that you might tell me not to because you’d think that I was just doing it for you.” And Kat is doing it for Adena, that’s true. But she’s also doing it for herself because she pictures a life with Adena. And a life with Adena has obstacles that Kat needs to prepare for in any way that she can. She isn’t a control freak like Jane, likes to take things at her own pace, but this feels important. Because Kat knows that she’ll meet more of Adena’s friends, her family, and they won’t all speak English – like Adena’s mother. Adena’s mother knows very little English, Kat knows. So, if they were to talk then Adena would have to translate and that just seems…

Impersonal.

Adena opens her mouth to say something but stops herself. She looks Kat over with a critical eye, an amused confusion swirling in her eyes, soft around the edges and no less adoring than when she always looks at Kat. It makes her stomach tighten, butterflies swirling around, and Kat wonders if that will ever get old – if there will ever be a time when Adena’s look doesn’t inspire a physical reaction inside of her. The photographer hesitates on saying anything, taking a sip of her tea, before she places it down upon the table and extends her hand in offering. Kat only hesitates a second before she grabs hold, following after Adena as she leads them to the couch. They settle down but Adena keeps her hand, stroking the back of it with the tips of her fingers.

“Could you start at the beginning so that I might catch up to your logic here?” Adena asks kindly, knowing that Kat doesn’t like to rehash her feelings or talk about her insecurities but also knowing that this seems to be bigger than just learning a new language. There’s a pause, Kat trying to gather her thoughts before the woman sighs and shrugs in frustration. Communication is hard, and she’s always excelled at avoidance. She’s gotten better at talking about her feelings, about opening up to Adena, but it’s still so frightening. In moments like these, all she can think of is some of the cutting remarks from her parents when she was younger. Kat never got to just _feel_ things, every emotion had to be hashed out and there had to be a _why_. It was so much easier to just deny ever having feelings, just pretend that she was perfectly happy and content all the time. It had been so exhausting to identify and go through everything – when she grew up she just wanted to be free to feel whatever she wanted without the constant need to explain herself.

But Adena is patient. Adena knows that Kat struggles with this and she lets her have her moments of frustration, of anger, of sadness because she just can’t seem to function _normally_ in situations like these. There have been moments on truly difficult days where Adena’s had to extend her patience and sit in silence for thirty minutes or an hour – simply waiting on Kat. She doesn’t mind but it can get tedious when she’s angry or truly upset with her girlfriend. Luckily, Adena isn’t angry at her now and she waits in silence. Kat knows that Adena knows not to say anything, that it could interrupt her thought process or delay a response.

“I think that,” Kat begins, watching the way Adena’s head cants towards her slowly before meeting the woman’s eyes. Brown, deep, dark, soft and loving, patient. “Seeing you here, knowing that you really miss home, even when you won’t say that, is something that I can help with in some way. I can be here, and I can be supportive of your heritage and your culture and where you come from,” Kat gestured uselessly with her hands, watching as Adena slowly came around to her thinking and point of view. “And learning your language, your first language, is just another way that I can become closer to you and give you a piece of that back. You’ve left home and I know that America is very different from Iran. People are hateful and awful, but I can make that just a little bit easier in our home. I can learn more and there are things that I can do to make our future easier – learning Farsi is one of those things.”

It’s quiet after Kat finishes her first point. She isn’t done but that’s the biggest reason as to why she’s doing this, the one that feels most important. Adena is staring intently at her, a deep sadness in her eyes that Kat can’t explain, a wet sheen to her eyes and a hard grip on Kat’s hand. She opens her mouth to speak but closes it once more and shuts her eyes, tears escaping through the motion. Kat wipes them away with her thumb and ignores the way Adena breathes deeply in through her nose, gaining composure before she opens her eyes once more. Meeting Kat’s own, her jaw becomes pronounced as her teeth come together, something that happens when she’s really upset.

“Kat,” Adena pauses, throwing her eyes to the ceiling as she tries to gather her own thoughts and decide how to put this in the most delicate way possible. “I appreciate you so much. I appreciate you thinking about how much I miss home,” her voice wavers because she _does_ , she really misses home, “I appreciate your acceptance and your love, I appreciate that you love me so much and you make it obvious in little displays and grand gestures all the time. But this isn’t something that you have to fix for me.” Kat wants to fix every hurt that Adena has or could have, she’s very protective, but that’s impossible. “It isn’t your fault, it isn’t my fault, and there’s nothing that we can do to change what is or has been. We can’t fight an entire government or change the hate in people’s hearts when they don’t want to see reason or love. I would love for you to learn Farsi, I would teach you myself, but please don’t do it in an attempt to…” Pausing once more, exhaling in frustration at not being able to find the right words to explain how she feels, she looks to Kat and her brow crinkles in frustration.

“Out of guilt?” Kat offers quietly and Adena’s eyes strike her with recognition. Because Kat feels guilty. She feels guilty because Adena chooses to be here with her every day and not with her family, not with her friends back in Iran. There’s a fire in Adena’s eyes now, recognizing the feeling that Kat feels, and it’s a revelation. It’s in the way that Kat looks at her apartment, at her family photos and the series she did with her good friends. It’s in the way she watches Adena when she speaks Farsi or when she catches sight of something on the news regarding Iran, when she remembers that Adena is very far from her home, far from her family. Adena could never quite put her finger on what that look was, just that it was a flash of _something_ , but she knows now. Guilt.

“Kat, I’m choosing to be here in America.” Adena’s voice is firm but not reprimanding or angry. It strikes Kat as important and she listens intently, her own dark eyes catching Adena’s and watching the passionate way her girlfriend speaks. “ _I’m_ choosing this – not you. It’s my choice and, yes, I did leave Paris for you, but I went gladly, happily. You…” Caressing the back of Kat’s neck, Adena brings the woman into her chest and leans down to press kisses to her face. “You are enough. You’re more than enough.” And it seems to be what Kat needs to hear because her eyes are tearing up and she’s quietly crying.

It’s just that, a lot of the time Kat doesn’t feel like she’s enough. It’s why she makes impulsive decisions, like singing a contract when a company so much as mentions that they want _her_. It’s why she was so upset when Adena asked for a letter from Scarlet rather than from Kat herself – though she understands why. It’s why she pushed Adena back into Coco’s arms rather than speak with her about what they could be, what Kat wanted to be all along.

How can she stack up to an entire country filled with Adena’s family and friends?

“You are more than enough, and you make me very happy. I love you and I don’t want you to feel guilty for that. I really need you to not feel guilty about that.” Adena adds, holding her girlfriend and praying silently that Kat can let go of her doubt gradually. Adena believes that their relationship might be a catalyst to this guilt, she knows that, but it is Kat’s own insecurities that she’s not enough that’s led to this. Shushing her lover, she listens to Kat sniffle and wipes away her tears when they fall.

“I’m still taking lessons,” Kat’s voice is scratchy, stubborn but there’s a fire there that has Adena rolling her eyes affectionately and shaking her head. “Stubborn,” Adena shoots down at her and is ready to launch into another speech when she’s quieted. “It isn’t just that. I genuinely do want to learn. I…” Kat hesitates, a sense of anxiety and nervousness rising in her stomach at thoughts of a future with Adena. “I plan to be in your world for a long time,” she finishes, trying to sound confident and not as scared as she feels. Adena’s heart does this little flippy thing at the confession, knowing that its Kat’s way of saying that this is for real – that this is something she’s willing to work at. “And I think it would be easier if I spoke Farsi because some of your friends do and I get annoyed when I’m having a conversation with them and someone – either one of us – doesn’t know how to communicate with one another. And I don’t want you to translate all the time. Especially not when I meet your family.”

They haven’t talked about it. Adena is surprised that Kat is even bringing up a potential meeting with her family. Adena has met Kat’s parents but she’s never been approached about her mâmân. She can’t deny loving the idea of Kat wanting to learn Farsi and she can’t deny the fact that Kat is right – Adena may not be around all the time to translate or the woman, especially if Adena’s mâmân entered the picture. “If this is something you actually want to do, not out of guilt, then go for it. I would love to teach you or help you study, engage in conversation with you in Farsi so that you learn faster. If it makes you happy then you should do it.”

And Kat may still feel guilty about Adena being with her but Adena is there to support her, to remind her that she’s chosen Kat. And she might still have a hard time explaining how she feels or accepting that she’s enough, but these are all things that Kat will have to deal with. Adena is always willing to offer support and help whenever she needs it.

Kat starts her lessons on Tuesday. Turns out, she’s a great student who excels in the study of languages.


	6. Quiet (NSFW)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They fuck in a dressing room. 
> 
> Un-prompted. 
> 
> Consider this in the same universe as the other fics - Breakfast by Kat, Jealous Adena, Sick Adena and Kat wants to learn Farsi. All of these fics are pretty much in the same universe thus far.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have fun and I wish you all luck with the finale tonight. I hope we won't need it but I bet it'll be heart-wrenching and might upset a lot of people.

Kat Edison is admiring Adena’s ass in the dressing room of some fancy ass clothing store. The woman is picking out something to wear for Scarlet’s anniversary and the dress that she’s picked out makes her ass look fantastic. She’s got her bottom lip between her teeth, one leg over the other as she sits in a velvet soft chair in the corner of the dressing room, and the appreciation is obvious in her gaze.

“I take it you like this one?” Her wife’s voice floats over to Kat, smug and amused. Flicking her eyes up to meet the woman’s, Kat isn’t laughing and Adena’s own expression changes to one of intensity, sharing her lovers desire as her eyes quickly darken and her fists clench at her sides in anticipation. Kat loves that she can do that to Adena – one glance with just the right amount of intensity and suddenly they’re on the same page and thinking about how quickly they can get each other naked.

“Come here,” it’s not a question, and Kat can see the way Adena swallows, smiles confidently when Adena doesn’t hesitate to walk the short distance to her wife. When she’s within reach, Kat’s legs drop down until her feet are firmly on the floor, legs spread, hands darting out to pull the woman closer by her hips. The suddenness of the action causes Adena’s breath to catch. It’s audible in the medium sized dressing room and Kat was already smirking but the sound sends a delighted thrill through her. Adena is leaning over into Kat, hands on her wives’ shoulders, bracing herself above Kat, and her knee slides between Kat’s legs to rest on the space provided by Kat’s open legs, giving her more stability.

Kat’s hands are already pulling up her dress – she says hers because there is no way she’s leaving without this dress today – and Adena’s eyes are closing, lips parted and breath escaping quickly as Kat’s hands find her ass. Adena has an amazing ass and Kat appreciates to the very best of her ability. Bunching up the dress in one hand, not caring that the dress is literally thousands of dollars, Kat moves the fabric out of the way until she has a clear view of Adena’s ass. She’s wearing a pair of Journelle black panties, the very same pair that they shopped for last week and the way this pair frames Adena is phenomenal. Kat is in heavy and she doesn’t hesitate to reach out and grab hold, kneading them one at a time, listening to Adena’s quickened breath by her ear.

“You look beautiful,” Kat compliments before turning her head to capture Adena’s lips in her own. There is an indescribable heaviness that comes with kissing Adena. It used to scare Kat, still does sometimes, how much Adena affects her. It’s as if all the want in her body rushes forward until it’s very hard to feel anything else, until all she can hear is her heartbeat in her ears and the weightlessness of her being. It’s as if she’s not tethered to the earth anymore, as if Adena is keeping her right where she wants her.

Adena completely owns her and it’s something that Kat has come to terms with long before they got married.

She is still so beautiful. Kat had heard that couples – especially two women – could have a drought in their sex life after they married. She was so worried about it that she put off asking Adena to marry her. It wasn’t the sex that bothered her, though that sucked, but rather than fact that not _connecting_ with Adena anymore, especially physically, sounded excruciatingly painful. Kat expressed herself better physically than she did in words and to not have that would be detrimental to their relationship. Luckily, they were still so attracted to each other and sex wasn’t in short supply after they married. In fact, Kat would almost say that they had more sex now than they did when they were in their twenties.

Here, with Adena in her arms and those dark eyes staring down into her, Kat feels that need far more acutely than she did when they were younger. This is her wife, her salvation, her safe place, and she is beautiful, and Kat will worship at her feet forever if it means that she can stay in Adena’s world, if it means she can be Adena’s _wife_.

Bending until her lips can touch Adena’s hip, Kat’s hands pull at the woman’s panties until her hip is exposed. Immediately sinking her teeth into the skin there, Adena’s nails dig into her shoulders and there’s a moan that is far too loud for their current surroundings. Reaching up, she finds Adena’s mouth and presses her palm there, muffling her sounds as she sucks hickeys into the woman’s hip. Freeing the skin between her teeth, Kat is pleased to see the bruise already forming there. Glancing up at her wife, Kat’s own breath comes out in a rush.

Adena looks debauched in the best way. Her eyes are intense, dark, and when Kat takes her hand away from her mouth she wets her lips, leaving them shiny and parted. Her hair is down today, and her hijab is a deep maroon that looks amazing against her skin. She’s a vision and Kat doesn’t know how she got so damn lucky. “Can I, baby?” Kat asks, fingertips teasing the hem of her wives’ panties. Adena’s immediate nod leaves Kat wanting and she’s standing, towering over the smaller woman in a second.

Adena’s hands find the back of her neck and pull until their lips meet, all lips and tongue. Kat takes the opportunity to sneak her hand down underneath Adena’s underwear until she’s moving through soft, wet warmth. There is a keening sound from Adena as Kat strokes across her clit and Kat huffs out a laugh and presses a kiss to her forehead, all grin and no shame. “You have to be quiet, love.” she reminds the shorter woman, and presses until Adena is resting against the wall and Kat is in front of her, pressing into her with one and then two fingers. There are little whimpers that Adena can’t hold back – this whole scenario catching up with her because they are very much in public right now – and Kat has to keep her hand pressed against Adena’s mouth as she fucks her.

Adena is tight around her fingers, wet and warm. It’s often in moments like these that Kat wishes she had a dick. If she had one then she could experience Adena’s pleasure with her own, could feel her flutter and clench around _her_. It’s enough to make Kat unbearably wet and she’s antsy and uncomfortable in her very expensive pantsuit. Adena is holding on tight to her shoulders, her back, and Kat is pressed up against her until almost every inch of her body is resting against Adena’s. “Shush, baby,” Kat admonishes, Adena trying to stifle herself even as Kat strokes up and finds her g-spot easily, years of practice leading to this beautiful choreographed dance of passion. Kat can feel Adena clench and knows that she’s close. It’s something she’s thankful for because she’s certain that someone has gotten suspicious about the noise.

“Kat,” Kat’s attention diverts from thoughts of someone catching them to Adena who is clutching desperately to the back of Kat’s neck, nails digging in. Kat curses under her breath at the pure desire and unbridled pleasure she can see in Adena’s eyes. They’re incredibly expressive and now, with the furrow in her brow, she’s fighting to keep them open, to stare into Kat’s own as she comes around her fingers. It is a very intense moment and it ends when their lips meet, a kiss to seal all the promises that they’ve made each other. They’re both breathing heavy when they pull away and Adena is trembling, fluttering around Kat’s fingers as she brings her down from her high.

Adena is a mess. Kat can feel how wet she is and wishes they were at home, in bed, because she could clean Adena up with her tongue and make her come a second time. It reminds Kat of how wet she is, of how she desperately wants her wife, and they have to get out of here. “Okay?” Kat asks, checking in, and Adena nods as she breathes deeply through her nose and is wracked occasionally by small shudders from her orgasm. Adena has her hands wrapped around Kat’s forearms, holding herself to the wall as her legs shake. Kat almost feels bad about the state that she’s left her wife in, but she highly doubts that Adena feels bad about it. “Wanna go home?” She offers, at a loss as Adena gets herself under control and huffs a flustered laugh, a grin overtaking her face even as she buries her face into Kat’s shoulder.

Hugging Adena securely to her, Kat leans down until she can press a soft kiss to the woman’s head. She’s not in a hurry despite her previous words and holding Adena while she comes down from her high is always a pleasure. She’s clingy, this trembling little mess in Kat’s arms, and she’s hers to protect, to love and support. Kat never thought that she was the marriage type before she met Adena. It seemed arbitrary and old-fashioned, unneeded. But it had been important to Adena, therefore it became important to Kat. Kat had no qualms about marrying Adena if that was what she wanted – her sentiments towards the woman were the same regardless; utter loyalty and love, desire, flooding every inch of her until it all screamed _Adena_. Still, there were days when Kat got this giddy sense of accomplishment, of pride at being able to call Adena her wife – of being called Adena’s wife.

Kat’s fingers are wet, and she brings them thoughtfully to her mouth, trying not to be too loud as she takes care of them. She’s going to have to pay a visit to the bathroom when she gets out of here to wash her hands and Adena will have to get dressed and compose herself because she definitely looks as though she’s been fucked. Kat’s just glad that the police aren’t bursting in to arrest them for indecency, that there isn’t some white saleswoman outside the dressing room door knocking for them to come out. Humming around her fingers, there’s a grin of amusement on her features as she pictures the look on the stuffy old woman’s face that she passed on the way into the dressing room with Adena.

With her wife resting against her chest, finally having caught her breath, Kat can’t say that any of that wouldn’t be worth this. Being close to Adena, being spontaneous and adventurous, is what keeps a relationship going and Kat won’t apologize for that. She doesn’t think Adena would either. They’ve been through so much heartache, so many ups and downs, and they deserve all the happy times that happen to come along – Adena especially. Speaking of Adena, she’s finally moved her head from Kat’s neck and is pulling herself away to run a frazzled hand over her face, eyes darkening and grin pulling the corners of her mouth up until it takes over her entire face, happy and relaxed in a way that she’s only like when she’s just had an orgasm. She plucks Kat’s fingers from her own mouth and pulls them towards her own, surrounding Kat’s digits in wet warmth once more as she sucks and listens to the way it makes Kat’s breath halt and enjoying the way Kat leans into her, desire written across her face. Letting them drop, she pulls herself up onto her toes until their mouths come together in a mess of a kiss, eager and desperate and completely like passionate teenagers who can’t get enough of each other.

“This is the second time this week,” Adena states between kisses, and Kat grins, making their mouths come together clumsily. She’s referring to the number of times they’ve had sex in public. It isn’t something that happens abundantly, but this week Kat had been worked up at the most inopportune moments and she had a way of pulling Adena in after her until they were both messes. The first time had in a bookshop, in the back corner at a lone table when Adena just wouldn’t stop rubbing Kat’s thighs. That had been easier than this – Adena had been very quiet, or at least tried to be, and they were far enough away from other people that it wasn’t as risky. Kat was proud to say that she made Adena come twice while they were there until Adena had reached under the table and captured her hand, bringing it up to her mouth and looking around to make sure they hadn’t been caught.

“I know,” Kat groans, delighted, and Adena laughs, grin full and beautiful, “it’s amazing.” Adena’s hands fall from Kat’s arm, her mouth lets go of the fingers its held captive. She presses into Kat, hands on her stomach before they caress their way up until Adena can wrap her arms around Kat’s neck, Kat supporting her back and keeping her close.

“Be that as it may,” her smile turns soft, adoring and Kat feels that jolt in her heart just as she always does, “we need to get out of here, so I can repay the favor.” It sends a flash of heat down between her legs, makes her throb, and there’s a soft groan escaping her throat as Adena laughs, carefree and taken by the way Kat looks at her. But it turns into something else – something serious. Because Kat can’t stop falling into Adena’s eyes, can’t look away from her perfect face and noting every detail as if it might be the last time.

“I love you,” a whispered confession, a not-so-secret secret shared between the two of them, and Adena is smiling once again and Kat feels whole when she looks at her like that. “So, so, so, so, so much.” And it’s true –

Adena completely owns her. Kat has the ring to prove it and the stamp on her heart that looks suspiciously like Adena El Amin’s name. So, if she gets lost, she’ll always find her way back here.


End file.
